Camillus brawl: Superintendent and parents under fire

Dick Blume/The Post Standard WEST GENESEE Middle School on Sanderson Drive in Camillus.

Brown overreacted in shutting down league
To the Editor:

For Chris Brown, superintendent of the West Genesee School District, to shut down a youth basketball program because of the actions of a few kids, their parents and their coaches at a recent game was a wrong decision.

The kids who play in this program are not invaders from Mars; they are the same kids who attend school during the day. Therefore, the superintendent must apply the same standards he would use in settling a dispute between two students, a student and a teacher, or between two teachers.

Certainly, he would not shut down the whole school because of the actions of a few. He would settle the problems of those involved, and hand out any punishment as needed.

To me, this is the only way Brown should handle the problem mentioned above. Punish those involved and let the other 900 kids have fun playing basketball.

The youth program involved has been an integral and positive part of youth development programming in the town of Camillus for many years. Its accomplishments have been noted many times over.

Sadly, Brown has not been around long enough to have experienced the results of this program. If he had, I am positive he would not have made the hasty decision he made.

Let the kids play.

Paul Delallo
Camillus

What are the youth league parents teaching the children?
To the Editor:

I just wanted to voice how disappointed I am in the parents and children involved in the bench clearing brawl at the Camillus Youth Basketball league.

My son is involved in the league and now, because of the actions of some immature and irresponsible people, has had the remaining activities cancelled “until further notice” by Superintendent Chris Brown.

It is an embarrassment to the good people of the Camillus community, and the individuals involved should be truly ashamed of what happened. As parents we should be diffusing these situations our children become involved in.

Too many times you see in the news parents of young athletes behaving this way. What are you teaching your children? Where is the sportsmanship?